Remains of 4 cremated bodies discovered at Detroit funeral home where fetuses, infant were found

A small casket at the former Cantrell Funeral Home that contained an infant. (Carlos Osorio/AP)

Remains of four cremated bodies were discovered this week at the same shuttered Detroit funeral home where the bodies of 10 fetuses and one infant were found.

Naveed Syed, the new owner of the building that housed the Cantrell Funeral Home, told WXYZ in Michigan that the new remains were found in boxes in the basement with names but without documentation.

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“This shows how negligent people were and how unprofessional it was," Syed told the station. "This is not how you practice mortuary science. This is not ethical or moral.”

A worker was doing electrical work when he found the cremated remains.

“I (kept) seeing this black box that was in my way," Joseph Summers told WXYZ. "So as I moved it to the right, I happened to notice that it was the remains of ashes of someone — some loved ones that was basically thrown away like trash.”

The shuttered Cantrell Funeral Home in Detroit. (Junfu Han/AP)

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs confirmed that four cremated remains were found. A total of 38 unattended remains have been found on the premises, according to the Detroit News.

“(Cadaver) dogs came in Friday, but they didn’t find the any of the remains," Syed told the newspaper. "We’ve decided to now do a demolition of the property. We’ve taken out more than four dumpsters full of stuff, and God knows what else we're going to find.”

The funeral home was closed down in April after decomposing embalmed bodies and other violations were discovered. A criminal investigation is underway as officials work to identify the bodies.

"Due to the conditions of the remains, the best path toward positive identification is finding existing records," said Carl Schmidt, chief medical examiner for Wayne County. "The fact that these remains reached a funeral home means there should be a record somewhere that can help lead us to identifying information."

Schmidt said the process "could take weeks or months, depending on the information in the records, if they exist at all."